All the Devils' hottest news, from notes to numbers to neutral-zone traps

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Above: The late George Steinbrenner's image looks over Lou Lamoriello's shoulder as he watches the Devils practice. Below: Martin Brodeur's stall in the Yankee clubhouse.

This Yankee Stadium is not the original House the Ruth Built. That was torn down after the 2008 season and the Yankees moved into their shiny new ballpark in 2009.

That’s the one that will host the Stadium Series outdoor game between the Devils and the Rangers Sunday afternoon. (12:30 p.m., NBC).

The Devils were still quite impressed with their surroundings today, though, as they dressed in the Yankees’ clubhouse, used their training rooms and walked through their dugout to get to the field and eventually took the ice for their practice.

Even though almost all of the history took place across the street at the old place, they could still sense it in this building.

“When I walked in the Yankees’ dressing room, I was in awe,” Devils coach Pete DeBoer said. “I can’t describe the memorabilia on the walls in there, the pictures. They’re not team photos. They’re casual shots of guys sitting around the locker room and on the training table or in quiet moments. Legendary athletes that you’ve watched your whole life. It’s an awe-inspiring place.

“I think walking out tomorrow with 50,000 or 60,000 people in here is going to be magical.”

In a way, this event is a merger of both of Lou Lamoriello’s sports worlds. The Devils president and general manager also grew up playing baseball as a catcher. He played, coached and managed in the famed Cape Cod Baseball League (he was inducted into the league’s hall of fame in 2009) and at Thetford Mines of the Quebec Provincial League.

And he has strong ties with the Yankees that date back to when the Devils were affiliated with the YankeeNets ownership group back in the early 2000s. Lamoriello became good friends with late former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner during that time and, as a member of the board Yankee Global Enterprises since 2004, had been in the team clubhouse before and already knew how nice the facilities are.

“You’re talking another sport and the elite of another sport and that’s what you’re experiencing,” Lamoriello said.

Still, even those who grew up in other countries and didn’t follow baseball couldn’t help but be impressed. The players couldn’t stop talking about the palatial clubhouse. There were enough locker stalls for all the players and members of the training and equipment staffs.

“It’s a special place, that’s for sure,” Czech-born right wing Jaromir Jagr said. “It just hit me when we got in the dressing room. (There are) a lot of great dressing rooms, but I’ve never seen anything like that. It’s so big you don’t know who is sitting on the other side. It’s going to be tough for the coaches to have a meeting. If you make a mistake, (they’re) probably not going to find you in 15 minutes. So that’s a good thing about it.

“But it’s a very special place just to play here.”

Growing up in Montreal, the Canadiens were a big part of goaltender Martin Brodeur’s life because his father, Denis, was their team photographer. Brodeur’s father also worked for the Expos, though, and he would travel with him sometimes to spring training in Florida.

And Brodeur’s brother, Claude, pitched in the minor leagues for the Expos. So, he understands baseball and the importance of the Yankees.

“I’ve been living here for 21 years, 20 years here in the New York area, so I know what the Yankees mean to the people around here and what they mean to the world of sports and all the great players that went through this organization,” Brodeur said. “And so for us just to be in the locker room, you know, we’re just hanging out where they eat – it’s pretty cool. It’s a good feeling to be in this building and playing the game of hockey.

“But it’s something that growing up, the Yankees were the Yankees. Even if you’re not a baseball fan, you know who the New York Yankees are.”

Devils right wing Michael Ryder played at Fenway Park in the 2010 Winter Classic with Boston. So, he’s now seen both sides of the baseball’s biggest rivalry from a hockey perspective.

“Two pretty historic ballclubs that play in those two parks,” he said. “Fenway was fun. It was a different ballpark. It was older, but it was pretty neat playing there. And coming here in Yankee Stadium, it’s just another aspect to it. It’s going to be great and I'm just happy to be part of it and today was a day to take it all in.”

Rookie defenseman Eric Gelinas’ brother, Karl, is a pitcher who will attend training camp with the Phillies next month and his father, Marc Paul, was a minor league pitcher in the Pirates organization, so getting dressed in the Yankees clubhouse and walking around the stadium and being on field level had significance for him.

“I have baseball in my family history and I think it was just neat to be in probably the greatest stadium ever,” Gelinas said. “It’s pretty nice. It’s really big and it’s really nice, so it was something special.”

Even to a Red Sox’s fan like Cory Schneider.

“It’s pretty impressive,” the Marblehead, Mass native said. “There’s a lot of history. Even just in the training room, they’ve got pictures up of Babe Ruth getting treatment and Lou Gehrig and those kind of guys. I’m a baseball fan, so seeing that kind of stuff, I know this building itself isn’t historic, but it’s based on the old one and it’s very similar. The facilities here are great and it’s incredible that they’re allowing us to use these and we’re very thankful for that.”

DeBoer also mentioned the “pictures of Babe Ruth on the training table in there and Lou Gehrig and Mickey Mantle. It’s an amazing place.”

He then laughed and said, “I can tell you the athletes today are in a lot better shape than they were then.”

Lamoriello clearly enjoyed the afternoon, watching his team practice from rinkside and taking in everything around him.

“The thing I enjoyed the most was seeing the excitement in the players’ faces, especially knowing how they’ve stayed focused all week long and really not much discussion has been put into this,” Lamoriello said. “But now the focus is here and they’re enjoying it. Certainly coming off a win, it makes it better.”

The Devils have won their last two games and would love to match their season’s longest winning streak with another victory over the rival Rangers on this grand stage and on national television.

“The excitement that a Rangers-Devils game generates in the area on its own is big,” DeBoer said. “To add Yankee Stadium and an outdoor game to that is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. That’s how we’re approaching it. We’re trying to take everything in and enjoy it.”

The Devils are 3-0-0 against the Blueshirts this season, but still trail them by two points in the Metropolitan Division and Eastern Conference standings. So, as much fun as this weekend will be for them, they know there’s also some important business to take care of on the ice.

And that was their focus as they bussed back to New Jersey following today’s practice to spend the night a hotel before coming back to the Bronx for the main event.

“You want to keep the fun element. At the same time, this is a huge game tomorrow,” DeBoer said. “It’s a four-point game, two teams that are this close in the standings and the reality of the way things look is one of us might be in the playoffs and one of us might be on the outside looking in. So, the message to our group today was enjoy the day, let’s have fun, enjoy your families here today and when we get to the hotel tonight, it’s all business because the game’s too important tomorrow.”

About

TOM GULITTI has covered the New Jersey Devils for The Record since 2002. Prior to that, he covered the New York Rangers for four years. Gulitti joined The Record in 1998 after six years at The North Jersey Herald News. He graduated from Binghamton University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric-Literature.